Cursed dice and leaping wardancers (Blood Bowl match report)

This month I took my high agility wood elf team to play against the Tomb Kings. I don't have any names for the team except for Mosstyn the treeman. He had a decent game, including a successful blitz on an opponent. 

Mosstyn was bostin!

Although he did end up on his face at one point after a bad roll. 

Double skulls!

The wood elves are high agility, and their wardancers have a special ability called 'leap', which means they can jump over an opponent. I have only just learned to use this skill, but it meant on two occasions I was able to get a wardancer into the Tomb Kings back line and sack the ball carrier before running in to score. 

However, the event of the game was a disastrous dice roll of truly epic proportions. Bryan had a power advantage which meant he could roll three dice to resolve an attack on one of my players. He rolled 2 skulls and the 'both down' option where both players are knocked over and his turn would end. But, a lifeline! His attacking player had a skill that meant he could re-roll a both down result. Bryan rolled the dice again and rolled... another skull. 

Triple skulls from four dice rolls is unbelievably bad luck. And possibly a new record. We are seriously wondering if the dice are cursed. 

The Tomb Kings managed a consolation down after the wood elves had put four on the board.

I was a turn away from scoring a fifth down when the game ended. The final score was 4-1.

So close...

We had a very suitable snack this time. Reese's dipped peanuts. They make excellent edible Blood Bowl balls!

Everything should be OK… by 2013

My beloved spouse has had a run of misfortunes recently: inexplicable illness, family bereavement, a recent dash to the eye casualty unit after a routine eye test freaked out the optician. In fact, generally, she does seem to be one of those people who are relatively unlucky in life. Some might say that being married to me was the icing on the cake as far as that’s concerned.

In God’s Debris, Scott Adams (Dilbert author and ‘interesting’ thinker – read his blog for more), uses probability theory to ‘prove’ that some people are more likely to be luckier than others. Most people experience about the median level of luck with good things and bad things happening in about equal proportion, but there are some people towards the top of the chart who have a real Midas touch, and others who bounce along the bottom getting hit by calamity after calamity.

On the plus side, living with someone who seems prone to being ill with various weird illnesses (mysterious swollen legs, misfiring endocrines, random detached retina) is a bit like having a ‘sickness lightning rod’ around. Basically, I’m not going to get hit by a malady while my lightning rod is there soaking up the possible illnesses. The odds are too high for us both to be struck down by something unusual, or even something usual. That’s why I have the muscular consistency of a doughnut but still have an OK cholesterol level, even though my Daddio’s had a quadruple bypass and my little bro has to watch his levels.

But, going back to the probability theory – you’d think that if someone was having a run of bad luck, they’d be fairly careful in life generally. I’m not overly superstitious, but when I got home last night and Cath told me she’d broken my shaving mirror, I did let out an audible sigh. Another 7 years?

Roll on 2013.